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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  January 1, 2013 5:00pm-6:00pm PST

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all right. as of now, it looks as if the house of representatives will vote on the plan that was passed in the senate at 2:00 a.m. this morning. we'll keep you posted on that. we're back at 11:00 p.m. eastern
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with more. "anderson cooper 360" starts right now. >> ali, thanks. that deal on the fiscal cliff which passed the senate this morning with nearly unified support from both parties hit a snag in the house but may be moving again. members of the rank and file have voiced objection. the republican majority leader said he won't support it without change, but now things may be getting resolved. how a big can go from a 89-8 sure thing on one side of the building to a heavy lift on the other side speaks to how washington works or doesn't work. what house republicans cannot stomach is the version that restores tax cuts and raises upper income taxes, puts off any action on serious spending cuts for two more months. it fails to do precisely what republicans and democrats set to do when they set this whole fiscal cliff mess in motion nearly a year and a half ago. >> we need to return to fiscal responsibility.
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>> how it is that we're going to be able to do that? getting our fiscal house in order. >> the american people have spoken loudly. they want us to get our fiscal house in order. >> fiscal handcuffs on this congress that are sorely needed. >> washington is beginning to get its fiscal house in order. >> fiscal house in order. so that was then. that was nearly a year and a half ago. they've had nearly a year and a half to do that. the best they can do is a senate bill to restore the bush tax cuts. individual income up to 400,000 and family up to $450,000. as for spending, it basically punts. so now the question is can it actually pass? dana bash is joining us, jessica yellin. they've been working their sources as they try to stay ahead of this fast moving story. dana, what are you hearing? >> we have news. that's that the house republicans have decided just to take up the clean senate bill. they're not going to amend it. they're going to take up the bill that passed with a huge
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majority in the early morning this morning in the senate. all day long, as you just said, back and forth about whether or not they can do that, whether or not to put an amendment on that has spending cuts, which is what many house republicans have been demanding, but the decision after a lot of discussion by the house leadership has led to where they are now, which is in about an hour, hour and a half, we are going to see a final vote on the senate bill, which means this will be over and the fiscal cliff package to avert the fiscal cliff technically, will be donep. >> at least this portion of it. still a lot of spending cuts to get to a couple of months from now. just the beginning of this. just for those folks who have not -- maybe they're recovering from last night or just not following the detail all day long, the house had the option
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of not going for just an up or down vote on the senate bill and actually trying to amend the senate bill and that that would have sent it back to the senate effectively sending us over the fiscal cliff. >> that's exactly right. the back story of what's been going on all day long is there are a number of house republicans who simply don't like the senate bill because they think it effectively raises taxes and, more importantly, they don't think that there are enough spending cuts in it. so they have been complaining very loudly. and many of them will likely vote against the senate bill in general, but what they were also trying to do is talk to the leadership about whether or not there is any way they can change it. and from the perspective of the house speaker who is trying to walk a very fine line here, he spent the day being very careful, being very cautious, listening to his members, seeing what they wanted to do and not just saying from the get go we'll have a vote on because
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that's not the way to do it with the economy collapsing. because he knows politically if he would have done that, he probably would have had a revolt. so they had to go through these stages of discussions all day long to get to the point where they were all comfortable that republicans, rank and file republicans had their voices heard and that they understand now, after two meetings today, two large meetings with all the house republicans, where the last one i'm told the house speaker said to them, look, guys, we can have this amendment, which they put together in the afternoon $300 billion in spending cuts, but you have to realize that there is a big risk and that risk is they would send it back to the senate behind me and the senate will take it up. no way, we did our job with the majority of republicans voting for it. at the end of the day that won out. the risk was too big and the reward simply wouldn't have been there politically even standing on principle. >> jessica, is the president optimistic is bill is going to pass? >> yes. the white house has been cautiously optimistic all day
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even when it stalled because they figured in the end just the sheer need for political survival would make the folks up on capitol hill at least willing to put it on the floor. then they're very confident that they have the democratic votes to get it passed. i haven't been able to call since dennis has broken this news and reported that it will actually be scheduled for a floor vote, but that's just a confirmation of what they've been feeling all day. they have the democratic votes. once it's scheduled for a floor vote, they think that this thing is going to pass. so this is essentially like very good news for them. sorry. >> dana, you're saying this will come to a vote probably in an hour, hour and a half? >> we're told probably in the 9:00 hour. they've already started the technical process to get this bill to the house floor for a vote, and they think that that whole process will take an hour, some time in the 9:00 hour eastern time that they'll bring to it a vote. to jessica's point that the white house is confident that
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they'll have the votes, we should point out that we were talking a lot about house republicans but the reason why they're probably going to have the votes is because it's going to be carried with a lot of democrats. a lot of democrats who were give -- had a discussion today with the vice president who came here and explained why this deal, which he cut with the senate republican leader yesterday was the best that they could have. it was a pretty long meeting but it was one we understand that was pretty successful in pulling over enough democrat who were skittish from the left, from the other side, they didn't like this bill because it keeps tax cuts in place too much, and so they oppose it from the other side of the spectrum. but at this point it looks like it will be a combination of democratic and republican vote to pass it. >> jessic charactejessica, this from what president obama ran on to get re-elected. he wanted taxes on more than
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250,000. looks like for individuals 450,000. >> the tax difference is a change, but let's remember he put a $400,000 tax threshold on the table as part of his negotiations with speaker boehner. so while some progressives are upset about that difference, the thing that the vice president heard about the most when he went to meet with democrats today was that democrats are upset about how this sets them up for the next fight, and that is the battle over the debt ceiling. and in two months time, the nation hits the debt limit again. this does not include a mechanism to avoid that fight. and there was a lot of concern about that. and the vice president had to take a lot of questions, about 45 minutes he took questions from about 20 different members and that, i'm told, was the top concern among democrats. the white house will just have to wage that balgtz whttle when comes some time in february. that's when the spending cuts that have been delayed also kick
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in. this will be a titanic battle in washington. we'll be standing on the lawn in capitol hill having this discussion all over again. instead of about tax increases, it will be about debt, deficit and the debt ceiling all over again, only that time the president says he is not going to have the fight. he's sort of implying he'll maybe let the nation default rather than -- so as he puts it, let him be held hostage. >> this is just the beginning. this is the next four years basically. we'll talk to grover norquist about this in a second, but this is the way things are going to get decided now for the next four years. there's no grand bargains and stuff like that. >> that's the thinking. look, it could be or it could be that we'll continue to have these skirmishes because there are these ideological differences until it's finally resolved because these two parties are struggling over philosophy and eventually it will be resolved, but until that time, yes, this is what we're looking at for a while. >> hdoes that get resolved,
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though? >> once the economy recovers and we're clearly out of recession, maybe the anxiety about debt and deficit is lessened or perhaps we get the debt and deficit under control and that makes everybody a bit more optimistic. we've now resolved the tax struggle to some extent. personal income tax is resolved a little bit. so you tackle these one at a time. that might be the way or it might be that the economy picks up. >> right. >> anderson, if i could just add to what jessica is saying, it seems as though a big reason why republicans in the house relented and they're allowing this up or down vote tonight on the senate bill is because of these fights to come and because republicans all along have felt that their biggest leverage was in the debt ceiling, that that is where they're really going to demand spending cuts and in the idea that the government will shut down because the government will run out of money around
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that same time and this sequester, these mandatory spending cuts, which also have been pushed off for another two months. so all of those things republicans feel that they have more leverage on. having said that, this is, you know, we're talking about a fiscal cliff. that's certainly the terminology, but the effect of going over the cliff will be nothing compared to if we hit the debt ceiling. it's not even close to comparing to the effects on the economy. >> dana, jessica, we'll continue to have more updates from you throughout the night. a key player in all this drama, grover norquist, really holds no elected office, no official title. he's a lobbyist, president of an outfit called americans for tax reform. he's been a central figure in every tax debate washington has had for 20 year. his position is don't raise them, not ever. this time even though it raises rates on wealthy americans is kind of sort of okay and that's
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got some people puzzled. grover norquist joins us now. so you said that voting for this deal which increases taxes on house holds earning more than $450,000 annually would not violate your pledge that lawmakers made to their constituents. help our viewers understand that because lawmakers who signed that pledge they vow to oppose any increasing of tax rates for individuals for businesses. how does the fiscal cliff deal not violate that pledge? >> it's technically not a violation of the pledge. but i understand why a lot of republicans had said, look, even though what's happening is the tax cuts disappear and we're restoring them for most people, so we're not raising taxes, we're actually cutting taxes -- >> you're saying because the bush tax cuts have expired yesterday. >> yes. >> so basically they expired yesterday, so technically these are still tax cuts? >> correct. i understand, and i understand if you're a congressman or senator you've got to go out and convince not me that you've technically not violated the
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pledge, you have to convince your constituents. the promise that congressmen and senators make so their the voters in their state. not to me or anyone else. they need to be able to say with a straight face they fought to protect those tax cuts for everyone and all the republicans in the house have done that more than once. and that they're fighting to oppose any and all tax increases period. i think you can look your voters in the face and say, we voted to protect them for everybody. the democrats won the senate, wouldn't pass that bill. the president's in the white house. he would veto that bill. here's the best we can do right now and we continue to fight for everybody going forward. >> is compromise really that dirty a word, though? for this congress to move forward, for things to actually work, is this a good system? is this a good -- to constantly have these brinkmanship, these battles that go late into the night. this is just the beginning of it, this is not even the end of it.
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critics say your pledge limits the flexibility member of congress might have to make compromises. >> define compromise, okay? richard nixon and ted kennedy could compromise very easily. richard nixon wanted the government to get bigger and ted kennedy wanted it to get much bigger. they compromised every year somewhere between bigger and much bigger and each one said, see, i did the best i could. today, however, we have two parties that are no longer regional parties, north versus south but actually committed to principles. the democrats have an expansive view of the role of government. they want higher taxes in order to spend more money. the republicans want lower taxes and spending less money. if somebody wants to go east and somebody wants to go west, what would a compromise be? i'm in favor of compromising in the direction of liberty. we had a compromise in 2011. republicans wanted to cut spending $6 trillion, the ryan plan and we agreed to $2.5
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trillion in spending cuts. that was a compromise. we wanted more spending, we got less because obama wouldn't support more spending reduction. so you can have compromise in the direction of liberty, but raises taxes and spending more money, which is what obama wants to do is moving away from liberty, that's not compromising for the american people. that's losing. >> you're painting it in extraordinarily stark terms. >> well, that's the two parties are extraordinarily want to go in two different ways. if you want bigger government versus smaller government, what would a compromise look like? >> do you see any room in the pentagon budget for cuts? >> oh, yes, absolutely. look, serious conservatives need to make it very clear that taxpayers, republicans, conservatives are looking at the entire budget and saying where can we be more efficient and more effective? we have a rather large pentagon budget, larger than most of the other counties in the world that have armies, navies and air
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forces all added together. >> right, combined. >> and we should have a strong military. we've got to keep the canadians on their side of the border. we ought to make sure that nobody can throw a punch at us successfully, but to argue that we can't reform some of the pension questions and some of the contracting decisions that are made -- and the good news is the republican caucus, the conservative caucus among republicans, the republican study leader jim jordan made the comment that while he was concerned about how the sequester might affect defense, he was more concerned that those cuts might not take place. that was part of the strong america is not to have this massive spending that we've been having. >> i'll have you on for another discussion on your concerns about the canadian invasion maybe for another broadcast. >> we've got to keep an eye on them. >> i'm glad you raised the issue. we haven't focused enough on it. >> a-ha, you see? >> grover norquist, thank you. let us know what you think. follow me on twitte
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twitter @andersoncooper. i'm tweeting tonight. more on the fiscal cliff bill and what americans think of the mess in washington. [ ship horn blows ] no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay -- you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car and we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. learn about it at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for $11.99. i can't imagine anything better. you're getting a ton of shrimp, and it tastes really good! [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's 30 shrimp for just $11.99! choose any two of five savory shrimp selections, like mango jalapeño shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. two delicious shrimp selections on one plate! all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just $11.99 for a limited time.
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tonight, the fiscal cliff bill which sailed through the senate got stuck in the house is now heading for a vote possibly in the 9:00 hour. way too much drama for many americans. while at some point this all starts to feel like a board game where lots of money is pushed around by characters you know, there are lots of risks from this. appreciate both of you being with us. ross, let's start with you. house republicans balan s balkes deal. hard to see how republicans can get much of a better deal now. how so? >> look, republicans lost the last election. they don't control the white house, they don't control the senate. the bush tax cuts were going to expire no matter what. the president had campaigned pretty much consistently, repetitively and so on on an upper class tax hike of some kind, so you were always going to have a situation where you
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had 700 billion, 800 billion in tax increases no matter what. give that they could negotiate the threshold upward is pretty much as good a deal republicans were going to get. frankly not a good deal in any cosmic sebs for republicans but giving the correlation of forces facing them, not a bad deal to walk away with especially since it's a bad sign for the democrats going forward that they needed to move the threshold that the president had campaigned on upward to 400,000. a sign that democrats are still quite uncomfortable voting for tax increases with or without republican support. >> charles, what about that? president obama was campaigning on a tax increase on those making above $250,000. we heard that over and over again. as ross said, some liberals are up in arms what this means that
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shows that the president can be pushed around? >> i think to categorize that as any sort of cave or massive sort of cave is a little bit off. you know, there are a lot of democrats who were not necessarily comfortable with the 250 threshold. a lot of democrats, particularly those who live in urban areas where people actually make a decent amount of money, they weren't necessarily stuck on the 250 as the president may have said that he was. so when he was able -- when he was willing to move that -- the goal post from 250 to 400 and democrats were able to fall in line behind that, i think that that is just a kind of political reality both on the left and the right. so i think that that is actually where people generally wanted to be anyway, a little bit higher than 250. but i do believe that what we're seeing is a collapse of the republican party's ability to be the party that we always thought that they were.
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that they would always fall into line. that they wanted to win more than they wanted to hold their own personal position. so they would always fall into line. but that's what we're seeing the democrats do now. republicans cannot seem to pull it together enough to do anything. and that mean that we are now constantly in this -- the public is in this constant state of paralysis -- i mean, of panic because the party is in a state of paralysis. that is where we are as a country. >> i want to bring in ali, but ross quickly on this point, does this say something about the republican party? >> sure, it doesn't tell us anything that we didn't already know. that the republican party is a defeated party, a bit of a mess and the house republicans don't really know -- i think charles is right, house republicans didn't really have a good strategy in these negotiations. i think john boehner was doing the best he could with a restive caucus and ended up punting it to the senate and letting them come up with a deal.
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then he spent today letting his members vent and now it's probably going to pass. i think charles is right. but i think he's underestimating in certain ways how worried democrats should be about the way this deal turned out. because what he said about how lots of democrats especially in wealthy urban areas wanted a higher threshold, that's true, but what does it say for the democrats if people in their own party can't, you know, can't bring themselves to raise taxes. >> i love the way you're -- >> let ross finish. >> how are you going to pay in the long run over the next 25 years for medicare, social security, the health care bill and so on if you can't bring yourself to raise taxes on rich people in new york making $399,000 a year? how does the democratic party pull this off. >> charles, i'll let you respond. then i'll bring in ali. >> i like when ross talks like that, chastises the republican party. but moving that threshold i don't think is the whole thing.
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i do believe that we have to be open to the idea of cutting entitlements because i believe that the entitlements that need to be cut are things that the republican base are more tied to than a democratic base is because the bigger things are social security, medicare, elderly people invariably vote democratic -- i mean, vote republican. >> not invariably. >> invariably. every presidential election, they, the republicans win the elderly vote. and the other big outstanding thing is defense spending. so we cut the things that really contribute to the debt. those are all really republican interests. >> ali -- >> this is way better conversation than bringing me in. >> put this in perspective for us. because this is not the end. >> no! >> this thing ends tonight, gets voted on in an hour or so. >> this is the new year's fiscal cliff. we'll have a valentine's fiscal cliff which is the debt ceiling, then a st. patrick's fiscal
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cliff which is the se questionser, a stupid name for a stupid thing, then we have to do a budget. nobody gave up anything in this thing. ross is eloquent, but there wasn't much of a giveup on this moving the numbers up to 400,000 because the democrats didn't put anything on the table. so nobody's lost. this is a compromise. it's the puniest, smallest, most insignificant compromise you can have to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff, which is very necessary. i hope it gets done in the next hour or so. but we'll have three more of these conversations and many more late nights. >> and consequently if the house does not pass the senate -- >> we have a lot of problems about if the house doesn't pass the senate version tonight. we'll see markets open up tomorrow morning. they'll be punishing. you remember 2008 when the t.a.r.p. bill went before the senate and the dow lost 177 points. a lot is priced in.
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the public will come out. this is just absolutely irresponsible. they've had 518 day to know this day is coming. now for people sitting around fascinated that we don't have a bargain -- >> good to have you on the program. we'll go back to dana bash in a bit. she's had new information about before the vote. secretary of state hillary clinton is spending another night in the hospital as doctors treat a blood clot in her head. we're trying to find out what we can about her condition. dr. sanjay gupta who is a neurosurgeon, will join us ahead. m having one right now. i don't want to be disturbed. neurosurgeon, will join us ahead. and because before i went to sleep, i set this. now my iphone knows not to ring, unless it's important. 'cause disturbing this would just be .. wrong.
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welcome back. tonight doctors are keeping careful eye on secretary of state hillary clinton who remains hospital fofrdized for d clot near her brain. she was hospitalized just as she was preparing to return to work after suffering a concussion in december. it was during a follow-up exam for that concussion that doctors
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discovered the blood clot. this is not first time she's been treated for a clot like this. in 1988 while first lady she developed a blood clot in her leg. this time it is a vein in her head. doctors are confident she'll make a full recovery. dr. sanjay gupta, who is a neurosurgeon, joins me now. a blood clot in the head sounds very serious. >> the big distinction is this clot inside a blood vessel or it is not? that's the first question that doctors are going to ask. if it's outside the blood vessel meaning the bled vessel has ruptured and you're accumulating blood outside the vessel, that's a bigger problem. on this model, let's say you have a blood clot on top of the brain and putting pressure on the brain, that would obviously be a problem and something maybe that would require surgery. you don't want to give blood thinner. that would make that problem worse and burn a bridge in terms of possibly performing surgery should she need it. in her case, she actually has a
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blood clot inside one of the blood vessels that's in a vein that drains blood away from the brain. you can see this blue area in here, those are veins. these veins take blood away from the brain. in her case is on the left side, but on this model, right about here, a clot is in this area. think about this, you have blood going to the brain. that same blood has to leave. if it's not leaving, the pressure builds up in the brain and that's what doctors are concerned about. it could lead to a stroke or other problems. >> i misspoke. i said 88, i believe it was 98 when she had the blood clot before. >> the blood clot will dissolve and it will open up and allow the blood to drain. that can take some time. the issue you bring up about the blood clot in '98, it gives doctors the idea that she will
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be this person that is more likely to form clots. >> why are some people more likely? >> i'm doing right no, you're doing it right now. some people tips toward more clotting. >> cloltting is -- >> more blood clots. >> like a grouping of hardened blood or something? >> if you cut yourself, you notice a clot that forms around the cut. same kind of thing except that it's happening inside the blood vessel. she may be someone loo is more likely to clot. she may need to be on the blood thinners. >> if that doesn't work? >> that's a very interesting question, anderson. they do want to open up this particular blood vessel. what you may need to do if the blood thinners aren't working, put a little catheter, literally thread it up in the brain. an extraordinary procedure. you go in an area from the leg. >> from the leg through to the head. >> threading it up. >> why do you have to go so far?
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thncht is a blood vessel that you can access easily. you have to find a place to get into the body easily and safely. you can thread it up and put some medication right on the clot. >> that's crazy that they can do that. that's amazing. >> if that doesn't work, sometimes they'll literally take this corkscrew type device, put it into the clot and then pull the clot out of the body. a pretty extraordinary thing. thankfully you don't have to do it very often. this problem we're describing in general is a pretty rare thing. >> is that a risky thing, though? >> it is risky. a challenging procedure and it's risky because this vein that i'm describing, it's a thin-walled structure. >> how much room are we talking about? how are these? >> the blood vessel itself is really tiny but the wall is like a piece of cheese. you don't want to cut it or open it up in some way because that would cause more bleeding. >> when you're threading, how do you not poke through the wall?
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>> you're literally threading this and watching this monitor simultaneously and guiding it by watching the monitor. >> that's incredible. >> people train for years to do that kind of thing. >> we obviously wish harry the best. sanjay, thank you very much. amazing. a look at the other stories we're following. isha is here. >> a new year's eve celebration turning to tragedy in the ivory coast. a stampede following a fireworks show killed 60 people, many women and children. the country's president calling for three days of mourning and a speedy investigation. north korean leader kim jong un talking about ending confrontation with south korea. he spoke about the importance of reuniting the two countries and criticized the hostile policies of what he called anti-reunification forces in the south. a flight struck another plane after landing at ft. lauderdale hollywood international airport. the plane carrying 162 passengers was taxiing when its
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wing hit the tail of an empty plane parked overnight. spirit airlines says no one was hurt. anderson, look at this. a wild scene caught on tape in new zealand. a fisherman reeling in a small shark when his cash suddenly becomes bait for an even larger shark. it attacked, chomping down and triggering a tug of war with the fisherman. i would have said, you can have it. >> amazing stuff. up next, my new year's eve partner for six years and running, the sweet and demure kathy griffin. sweet and demure? hardly. i laughed, i cried, curled up in a fetal position and wish i was home. highlights next. i took theraflu, but i still have this cough. [ male announcer ] truth is theraflu doesn't treat your cough. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a cough suppressant. great. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu fights your worst flu symptoms, plus that cough with a fast acting cough suppressant. [ sighs ] thanks!... [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth!
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well, it is new year's day, and for me that typically means stepping over confetti and all sorts of stuff in the streets of new york and trying to feel okay about the 2 1/2 hour that i spent with kathy griffin in times square the previous night. kathy will be here in a minute. but take a look at why i spent the night quietly rocking in a corner when i got home last night. welcome, everyone, another year. and here we are again, times square, new york, and of course i'm here with kathy griffin. >> ladies and gentlemen, our
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first guest, rihanna. >> no. rihanna is not one of our guests. >> rihanna is here tonight. you ready? ♪ wherever we go ♪ >> whatever we do? ♪ we're going to get through it ♪ >> together. ♪ islands in the stream ♪ that is what we are ♪ >> no one in between. how can we be wrong? ♪ ♪ where we we lie on each other mm-hmm ♪ >> that's not working for me. let's move on. someone on twitter was saying there's going to be a drink game every time i giggle nervously. >> i'm trying to get ratings, honey. oh, get yourself. guess what i have? first of all, you know what i can't handle about you? when you act like something crazy didn't happen. >> oh, yes! thank you. >> you did it. >> bring it on. i'm bringing it. brian! >> you're on tv.
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>> oh. hello. that was ryan seacrest and psy behind us. >> every year we usually put a sign on the camera just to remind kathy no nudity. we'll be right back. so we're actually going to check in with honey boo boo. welcome. how's it going, you guys? >> oh, yeah! >> hi. >> happy new year! >> you cannot throw money into the crowd, seriously. at the stroke of midnight, this is an amazing place. unlike any other place in the world that i've ever been. >> ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, happy new year! ♪ >> all right. can i stop? >> don't let go. don't let go, please. i need you. >> please stop. so listen, i had fun. >> i adore you.
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you know i do. >> the best of the new year. kathy griffin joins me now live. i know after the broadcast -- >> wow. can we just talk about my lead-in tonight. hillary's blood clot, fiscal cliff, ali velshi is actually seizing out in the hallway right now. i hope sanjay is giving him some oxygen. what is going on here? >> we'll be live at 10:00. >> you're a newsman or you used to be. the fiscal cliff affects my maserati how? like do i trade it in for a ghost door phantom? >> you have a adequate row. >> do i keep the ghost or go for the phantom or what do you think is the best thing? >> you have a team of accountants. >> this does affect only people who make $120,000 a year. >> for those who make 400,000
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and above. your taxes will go up. >> i'll give them right to grover norquist. that guy needs more money. >> i know after the show you usually talk to your mom. and she gives a frank assessment of how things went. >> there's a political term. what are you saying about the cliff, high, low, thumbs up, thumbs down, whatever. >> that's siskel and ebert. but -- >> nice reference. and i love when you make fun of my "brady bunch" references. anyway a thumbs down for maggie. my 92-year-old alcoholic mother and there was box wine involved. she did not care for my performance. she felt i was too vulgar and disgusting. >> i heard that. >> that's been going around. how far, suzanne somers wants me to be more vulgar. my mom has no money and suzanne somers has a billion dollars. >> suzanne somers late of the thighmaster. >> could buy and sell you ten times over. >> my mom called after the broadcast. >> is she still talking to me?
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>> yes. >> goodness. >> the strangest relationship. the weirdest moment for me, and i know there were a bunch, there were a couple. but the weirdest moment was psy, the south korean singer. >> i spent all day with him today. we were boa shopping. >> he was on ryan secrest's program. >> just don't say that. don't say that name. that's a trigger for me and i could break something. talk about a fiscal cliff. i'm going to throw ryan seacrest over that cliff. >> so psy -- what? >> first of all, the psy pr team are geniuses. one minute he was singing -- >> then the next -- >> the song. >> he sang the song "gangnam style". >> and what's his second hit? >> i don't know. >> then he was -- >> then he wanders on with mc hammer who you and i don't recognize at all because i didn't know they had teamed up. take a look at what happened. >> hi, how are you. >> hey, how's it going?
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nice to see you. hey, hello. >> hi. turn around. say hi to the camera. >> i almost wore this. i was this close to wearing this. >> this is not awkward at all. this is great. >> hi, you guys did a fantastic performance. anderson didn't mean those things. isn't it great to be here. >> happy new year. >> happy new year. >> we wiv ysh you the best. >> i met you before. nice to see you again. keep doing your "gangnam style" or any style you choose. there's money coming out your butt at this point. you're printing money wherever you go. >> that means a lot coming from you. >> so that was my favorite moment. >> you keep trying to break this down. i know you obsessed about it all night. you didn't go to bed until 5:00. >> why was psy here? he was pushed on by some pr team. >> thank you, psy is here. unexpected true raw moment. >> i don't think he knew where
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he was. i don't think he knew who we were. he didn't realize he was on cnn. he was just standing there. kathy had been badmouthing psy during his performance saying he's anti-american. >> i heard he hates america. >> there was an incident in the past. then you say to him -- so you first of all -- >> i wanted to throw you under the bus. >> you say i'm the one badmouthing him, which is not true. >> that's like the fiscal cliff, a debate. >> he didn't have a mike on him, obviously. so when you say to him you're basically printing money out of your butt, he pauses and says, thank you, coming from you that means a lot. >> which is really true because coming from a lot of people it wouldn't have real meaning but i put weight to an expression "you must be printing money out of your butt." it's a compliment. he has a hit song. then of course a second song. >> he doesn't have a second song. >> he doesn't need one. he's printing money -- i'm going to let you finish. would you like to apologize for
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some things you did last night? i think you went too far. >> no. time to wrap it up, isn't it? >> isn't it your big apology to america and norway? and you will watch my special thursday, january 3rd on bravo, kathy griffin kennedy center honors. >> how did they let you name it kennedy center honors? >> this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. i didn't get honored. >> the kennedy center isn't honoring you. yet it is not even spelled kennedy center. >> i lose to the emmys every year. >> like the kennedy center on err. i look forward to seeing you on the kennedy. >> honors, which i practically won. a rescue attempt on an icy lake. a man falls in, then some of the people trying to help him fall in as well. the whole thing captured on video. from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com
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pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you.
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welcome back. we want to make sure the world does not forget about someone who for more than a year has repeatedly risked his life by talking to us from inside syria. his name is zaidoun al zawabi. he hasn't been seen since he was
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taken away by secret police. they believe that zaidoun and his brother are being held at the notorious building 215, a facility in damascus known for torture and abuse. the facebook page demands their release in the hopes that someone in the regime will actually listen. he risked his life more than a dozen times calling us for interview, always using his real name, insisting on using his real name despite the brutality of bashar al assad's regime. here is one of the many times that he explained why he was so committed to speaking out. this is from back in march. >> if the government says good morning, i believe it is evening, this is exactly what i told mr. amman. if the government says good evening, i believe it is morning. they lie even if you ask them their names. >> we are seeing the bombing in
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homs, we've seen attacks elsewhere. and we've heard of the deadly death toll for a year, for more than a year. has the regime won? has the regime effectively crushed the bulk of the opposition? >> no way. there is no way they win. there is here 23 million syrian people who will win. there is no way we surrender. there is no way we give up. finish. kill as many as you want. we are here. we will stay forever. >> our thoughts are with zaidoun and his family. i spoke at length with his cousin. we'll bring that to you on 360. isha is back. >> police in california making an arrest in a deadly shooting at a new year's eve fireworks show in sacramento. police say a 22-year-old man
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opened fire following an argument. two people died at the scene including one man who reportedly tried to break up that fight. several others were wounded. the family of a sandy hook shooting survivor now putting plans to sue the state of connecticut on hold. their lawyer withdrawing papers after facebook comments. the suit was alleging the state failed to protect the children. they opened their doors just in time to ring in the new year. the state's first since passing an amendment legalizing recreational marijuana use. anderson, a wild scene in california caught on tape as a sledding trip nearly turned to tragedy. several people rushing to the rescue of a man who slid into the water of an icy lake. the first person on the scene also fell in the water when the ice gave way under his feet. he scrambled to save himself but inadvertently pulls in another rescuer. the scene turn to chaos as large
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pieces of ice break apart. a crowd on the shore threw ropes and inflatable rings into the water and they managed to safely pull everyone to safety. the whole rescue taking about nine minutes. no word of any serious injuries. >> thank goodness, it wasn't worse. yeah. the house is getting ready to vote the put the fiscal cliff to rest, at least for the time being. debate, as you can see, is under way. we'll get a quick update next. [ male announcer ] coughequence™ #8. waking the baby. [ coughs ] [ baby crying ] ♪ [ male announcer ] robitussin® liquid formula soothes your throat on contact
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and the active ingredient relieves your cough. robitussin®. don't suffer the coughequences™. and the active ingredient relieves your cough. excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app.
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some time within the hour, if all goes according to plan, the house will vote on the tax bill that the senate overwhelmingly approved this morning. it hit a snag this afternoon, faced republican rebellion. now may pass. if it passes with more democrats than republicaning supporting it. dana bash joins us from capitol hill. what's going on? >> what's going on right now is that we are seeing the beginning of the end. we're seeing the house in right now. they're starting what is a procedural debate to get to this final vote, which probably will be in the next hour, give or take a little bit. it really depends on whether or not these house members want to have a little bit more time to debate on the floor or whether or not they are pretty much like everybody here, exhausted, and they want to take the vote, they know the end and they want to go home. that's what we're watching at this point, anderson. >> it seems like they have enough votes to pass this, yes? >> it does appear that way. and the reason is because it's going to likely be a healthy combination of democratic and republican votes.
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we really don't see a lot of bipartisan votes these days around here. we saw it big time last night in the senate where this passed overwhelmingly, 89 votes. it is likely to be that kind of a -- not that high of a threshold, but that kind of a democratic/republican hand in hand vote. we'll see democrats peel off from the left, people who don't like this because they think that the tax cuts are extended on too many people that make too much money, and we're going to see people peeling off on the right who think that the taxes are increased too much for the wealthy and there aren't enough spending cuts, but we do expect them to get the majority needed to pass this. >> i think it's important to focus on what this does and does not do. we talked about the tax increases for people making more than $400,000 and businesses, but in terms of spending cuts and sequestration, all of that doesn't get dealt with tonight. that's two months